From: lindentree85-AT-comcast.net To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:58:32 +0000 Subject: [Puptcrit] permanent or roving festivals/education I'm still traveling after stopping in at the Maryland NE/Mid-Atlantic Festival, so this is brief. Education--recruiting educators to use puppets in the classroom while still meeting the curriculum frameworks to pass state exams... YES, it can be done. I was recruited for the first Puppets: Education Magic at the MIT festival. Although not an artist or drama person, one who didn't play with dolls either as a kid, I came. I had seen puppeteers help me run a school circus and the magic that was in the kids' eyes and the learning they did with problem solving in creating their puppet and show. I was curious. So I came at the invitation of the Boston Guild. Twenty years later, I am a Guild member, and a member of P of A. I teach full time in an urban elementary school. My classroom has puppets. I have presented workshops at regional and national festivals. I assist Judy O'Hare in presenting Puppets: Ed Magic in our area, as well at a few festivals that let us have a variety of workshops for teachers that involve simple puppetry projects that teachers can use in classrooms from K-12 as well as symposiums on how to incorporate them into lesson plans. A few years ago, we held a Day for Teaching Artists and many from around the US and Israel attended. We have a listserve for the group that we would recommend others to join. The book, Puppetry in Education and Therapy was published by Matthew Bernier and Judy that is available in the Puppetry Store. At the Maryland festival a Day for Teaching Artists was held on Thursday. The focus was on how to help those puppeteers booking in schools present programs schools can use, and at the same time, bring more puppets into the classroom lessons by the teachers themselves. My handouts that have been printed in several festival workshop notes include many of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, I need to follow, and how a simple use of puppets can make lessons more effective. Although in MA there are still teachers to be recruited for workshops, Judy and I are sure we can help festival planners in other parts of the US in recruiting a number of folks from their regions to attend a similar program. I remember when we had the first Ed Magic, at MIT, there were "real" Puppeteer of America folks trying to sneak into our track. With the national festival in Atlanta, I'm sure the Center for Puppetry Arts and puppeteers in the area have a data base of educators and librarians who they have worked with that could be invited to participate in education workshops at a festival. In the past two days while visiting my daughter's family down here in Georgia, I've talked puppets to friends of theirs--one a principal, one a woman at the swim club who had just seen Tanglewood's show here. There are others around. At first I was hesitant to join an organization of puppeteers, as I thought it was just for those in the profession. but many of our active guild members and I'm sure in P of A are hobbyists and overall cheerleaders for puppets and their puppeteer friends. And as in all the other groups I belong to, there are those who simply pay their dues, which helps the treasury for projects and administration, and the small other percentage of the worker bees. If you want more information on curriculum frameworks, most are for your state on line, and if interested in the teaching artists yahoo list, contact me or Judy O"Hare, P of A's education consultant. liz freeman -------------- Original message -------------- From: Monica Leo <goodfolk-AT-avalon.net> > I think one of the problems in getting the general public to attend is > the fact that festivals are in different places each year. We all know > it takes forever for anything to make it into most peoples' brains. > That's rectified by collaborating with an established venue like HOBT. > The other way to do that would be to establish permanent festival > sites. > Monica > > On Jul 17, 2008, at 11:58 AM, wipuppets-AT-aol.com wrote: > > > > > Thanks, Monica. I appreciate your input here, and am envious of your > > European travels. > > I agree that festivals could become more of a community event, in that > > the general public should have more awareness of and access to > > festival offerings. We not only have to offer public performances, but > > we also need to promote them. Even though organizing a festival is a > > very time consuming, mostly volunteer job, I'm not sure how much PR > > goes out to the local press, or if any marketing occurs. I know of > > several festivals which have offered public shows, and the audience > > turnout is directly related to the amount of marketing and pr done > > beforehand. Also, we are often asking people to seek out these shows > > on unfamiliar territory- college campuses. > > > > It seems that last summer in St. Paul, the Rampage organizers had a > > great partner in HOTB, who presented Paul Zaloom for festival > > registrants as well as for the general public. This should be used as > > a model- HOBT has an audience already educated as to the potentials of > > puppetry, a space they are familiar with, and marketing mechanisms in > > place. > > I'm very excited about next summer's joint PoA and UNIMA festival in > > Atlanta, which is, of course, taking advantage of the Center and all > > its resources. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for > > non-puppeteers to see some great puppet theatre! > > > > Due to the success of the Day for the Teaching Artist, the PoA board > > created a policy to encourage all future festival directors to include > > this pre-festival workshop, because Judith O'Hare and the Puppetry and > > Education Committee agreed to organize and lead it. She also has led > > workshops for educators for continuing ed. credit. I think this is a > > step in the right direction, and as many have pointed out, it's hard > > to get such a large organization to take even a small step. Still, a > > journey of 1,000 miles, as they say.... > > > > Nancy Aldrich > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Monica Leo > > To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > > Sent: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 7:22 am > > Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Discontent with Pof A? attn: Nancy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I was on a committee (an email committee) that was asked to offer ideas > > for making future festivals more sustainable. Several of us on the > > committee broached the subject of making festivals more accessible to > > the public. I have performed in a number on festivals in Germany, > > Austria, and the Czech Republic, and all of them were events staged for > > the public. They benefitted the puppeteers by (a) providing them work; > > (b) popularizing their art form; and (c) giving the ones performing at > > the festival an opportunity to get together. The focus, obviously, was > > completely different. We may not need to completely alter the family > > reunion aspect of the POA festivals, but I think we can adopt some of > > the aspects of the European festivals. At the time, I believe some us > > suggested a couple of pre-festival workshop days just for the kind of > > folks that attend POA festivals and several days (more focused on > > performances) completely open to the public. > > > > Another idea: in 2002, I was one of the organizers of the Great Plains > > Regional in Mason City. We worked with the Area Education Agency to > > create a workshop package that teachers could participate in to earn > > recertification and/or graduate credit. This attracted a pretty good > > contingent of area teachers. > > > > I'd like to go on record as a festival lover and POA appreciator, even > > if both could use some work. > > > > Monica > > Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre > > 319 N. Calhoun, POB 330 > > West Liberty, IA. 52776 > > http://www.puppetspuppets.com > > > > > > > > On Jul 16, 2008, at 7:29 PM, Liz Evans wrote: > > > >> Charles, > >> > >> I would have to agree with Christopher and Jon on the Festival failure > >> to open us up to the public. I can't speak to financial success, but > >> there have been a couple festivals in my 14 years in puppetry that > >> have > >> tried to open their festival to the public. > >> > >> 1995 Bryn Mawr opened several shows to the public and 2005 Tri > >> Regional > >> in Ashville also had public shows. > >> > >> My thoughts are that the reluctance to open up shows and workshops to > >> the public is a desire to be able to watch our peers without the fear > >> that there will be screaming children and uneducated adults who think > >> that they are in front of their TVs and that it is O.K. to talk during > >> a performance. > >> > >> However, I think there are solutions to this fear. Having multiple > >> performances of a percentage of shows that would be open to the > >> public, > >> while reserving private performances for puppeteers attending the > >> festival. This would require setting up show ticket sales on line as > >> well as getting Festival Web site and show information out to > >> Libraries, > >> Community Centers, and in local papers of the city that the Festival > >> is > >> going to take place in. As well as getting these Public shows up on > >> Local internet event calendars, early. > >> > >> I would have to think that Workshops might be a slightly harder sell > >> to > >> the public audience, but there are things like the Teaching Artist > >> Educational workshops would be an excellent program for the > >> Philadelphia > >> area, as we have several very active organizations that facilitate > >> Arts > >> in Education that could be partnered with to help make local artist > >> aware of these workshops. > >> > >> Well, those are just my two cents. > >> > >> Liz > >> K. Elizabeth Evans, President & Artistic Director > >> Renaissance Artist Puppet Company > >> http://www.RenArtPuppetCo.com > >> 610-630-4259 > >> > >> Renaissance Artist Puppet Company's > >> mission is to promote excellence in puppetry as a > >> Theatrical art form and as an Educational tool by incorporating > >> historical and cultural diversity along with quality performance > >> techniques to tell our stories. > >> _______________________________________________ > >> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > >> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > >> Archives: http://www.driftline.org > >> > >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > > Archives: http://www.driftline.org > > > > > Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre > 319 N. Calhoun, POB 330 > West Liberty, IA. 52776 > http://www.puppetspuppets.com > > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > Archives: http://www.driftline.org _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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